[Federal Register: November 3, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 212)]
[Notices]               
[Page 59338-59339]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03no98-106]

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary

 
Delegation of Authority To Assert Governmental Privileges; 
Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration

    On October 28, 1998, I issued a memorandum to the Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Pension and Welfare Benefits delegating to the Assistant 
Secretary for Pension and Welfare Benefits authority to assert certain 
governmental privileges. A copy of that memorandum is annexed hereto as 
an Appendix.


[[Page 59339]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Debra Golding, Special Assistant to 
the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Pension and Welfare Benefits, 
telephone number (202) 219-8233.

    Signed at Washington, D.C., this 28th day of October, 1998.
Alexis M. Herman,
Secretary of Labor.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

October 28, 1998.
Memorandum for Meredith Miller,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Pension and Welfare Benefits

    From: Alexis M. Herman.
    Subject: Specific Delegation of Authority to the Assistant 
Secretary for Pension and Welfare Benefits.
    Effective immediately, the Assistant Secretary for Pension and 
Welfare Benefits is hereby delegated authority and assigned 
responsibility to invoke all appropriate claims of governmental 
privilege, arising from the functions of the Pension and Welfare 
Benefits Administration, following his/her personal consideration of 
the matter, and in accordance with the following guidelines:
    (a) Informant's Privilege (to protect from disclosure the 
identity of any person who has provided information to the Pension 
and Welfare Benefits Administration in cases arising under the 
statutes listed in paragraph 4a of the Secretary's Order 1-87): A 
claim of privilege may be asserted where the Assistant Secretary has 
determined that disclosure of the privileged matter may: (1) 
interfere with the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration's 
enforcement of a particular statute for which the Pension and 
Welfare Benefits Administration exercises investigative or 
enforcement authority; (2) adversely affect persons who have 
provided information to the Pension and Welfare Benefits 
Administration; or (3) deter other persons from reporting violations 
of the statutes.
    (b) Deliberative Process Privilege (to withhold information 
which may disclose pre-decisional intra-agency or inter-agency 
deliberations, including the analysis and evaluation of fact, 
written summaries of factual evidence, and recommendations, opinions 
or advice on legal or policy matters in cases arising under the 
statutes listed in paragraph 4a of Secretary's Order 1-87): A claim 
of privilege may be asserted where the Assistant Secretary has 
determined that disclosure of the privileged matter would have an 
inhibiting effect on the agency's decision-making processes.
    (c) Privilege for Investigational Files Compiled for Law 
Enforcement Purposes (to withhold information which may reveal the 
Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration's confidential 
investigative techniques and procedures): The investigative file 
privilege may be asserted where the Assistant Secretary has 
determined the disclosure of the privileged matter may have an 
adverse impact upon the Pension and Welfare Benefits 
Administration's enforcement of the statutes listed in paragraph 4a 
of the Secretary's Order 1-87, by: (1) disclosing investigative 
techniques and methodologies; (2) deterring persons from providing 
information to the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration; (3) 
prematurely revealing the facts of the Pension and Welfare Benefits 
Administration's case; or (4) disclosing the identities of persons 
who have provided information under an express or implied promise of 
confidentiality.
    (d) Prior to filing a formal claim of privilege, the Assistant 
Secretary shall personally review all documents sought to be 
withheld (or, in case where the volume is so large that all of them 
cannot be personally reviewed in a reasonable time, an adequate and 
representative sample of such documents), together with a 
description or summary of the litigation with which the disclosure 
is sought.
    (e) In asserting a claim of governmental privilege, the 
Assistant Secretary may ask the Solicitor of Labor, or the 
Solicitor's representative, to file any necessary legal papers or 
documents.
    I hereby ratify any invocation of these privileges made by you 
since September 1, 1998, that was made in a manner consistent with 
the guidelines set forth in this memorandum.

[FR Doc. 98-29411 Filed 11-2-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-23-P